Microsoft Retracts Blog Post Hinting at MS Office Alpha Release

Microsoft posted and then pulled a call for public alpha testers to help the company experiment with the next generation of Microsoft Office, Office 14.

The post, written by Hayley Rixon, of the Microsoft business intelligence team, appeared on Microsoft’s TechNet site yesterday, but was then taken down. Using the ever-handy Google cache tool, here’s what the post said:

The product team in Redmond are looking for customer and partner submissions now :-)

The Alpha process will begin in the November/December timeframe this year. When you submit, please identify as a PPS M&A candidate. The deadline for submissions is August 28th.

Since Microsoft has yanked the post down, it would seem that perhaps Office 14 isn’t quite ready for even an alpha test phase. Microsoft’s publicists were quick to say that “it is too early to discuss specific features, capabilities or timing” for the next version of Office.

So is an alpha test phase coming? It’s anyone’s guess, but it would seem that at least some within the Office dev team think it’s about time to crack open the lid and let us have a peak.